Hanson UK’s waste minimisation success

Hanson UK’s cement business achieved full diversion of its bypass dust from landfill in 2016, following similar success in 2014 and 2015. The company is targeting a reduction in its total waste to landfill by tonne of product by 85% by 2020, based on a 2010 baseline.

In 2010, the company achieved only 47% diversion of cement bypass dust to landfill. The company produced 9823 t of bypass dust in 2016, compared to 10 336 t in 2015.

Overall, the company more than halved the total amount of waste sent to landfill from 8085 t in 2015 to 3996 t in 2016. This compares to a 2010 baseline amount of 18 472 t and brings the company close to achieving its targeted reduction.

“We reduced waste to landfill by 50% during the year, driven by big falls in cement, concrete, and asphalt product lines, and a company-wide commitment to operate efficiently and recycle or reuse as much waste a possible,” the company said in Sustainability 2017 report.

In total, Hanson reused or recycles 0.1 million t of controlled waste in 2016 – 96.5% of the total generated.

The company has also installed processing equipment at some of its quarries to process the fine material and dust into manufactured sand for use in its concrete plants. The manufactured sand acts as a substitute for land-won and marine-dredged sand.

“At Whatley quarry in Somerset, we have installed a processing plant to produce manufactured sand, which can be transported by rail to London and southeast England, where supplies of land-won sand are becoming increasingly scarce,” the company explained.